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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Saturday hours after their acquittal in the Iddat case, sources revealed.A NAB team led by Deputy Director Mohsin Haroon reached the Adiala jail where the former prime minister and his wife were detained on fresh grounds.
According to NAB sources, Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi were arrested on Toshakhana"s new reference. As prime minister, Khan and her husband allegedly received cheap gifts from the gift treasury and sold them at a higher price.Sources said that after completing legal formalities, NAB team formally arrested Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi.Earlier, a team investigating the cases registered in Lahore also reached the Adiala jail, indicating the possibility of further arrest of the PTI founder.
Meanwhile, the PTI founder challenged the denial of interim bail in three cases in the Supreme Court.In submissions through his lawyer Barrister Salman Safdar, Imran Khan claimed that he is a former prime minister and that the anti-terrorism court had rejected his bail in three cases related to the May 9 riots.The petitions demand that the Supreme Court quash the district court"s decision and grant interim bail to the PTI founder.
Earlier, the Islamabad District and Sessions Court, presided over by Justice Muhammad Afzal Majoka, had earlier reserved its verdict on the appeals filed against the verdicts in the iddat marriage case of Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi.The short order issued by the court said that Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi should be released immediately unless they are wanted in other cases.
Several PTI activists and supporters of Imran Khan gathered outside the court to stage protests, but the mood reportedly turned celebratory as soon as the verdict was announced.Imran and Bushra Bibi were convicted in the Iddat Nikkah case days before the country"s general elections on February 8. Several civil rights activists and legal experts condemned the initial conviction of the PTI founder leader and his wife.
The couple has appealed their sentence.